Ellingburg v. United States

On January 20, 2026, the United States Court of Federal Claims issued a ruling in Ellingburg v. United States, a medical negligence action brought under the Federal Tort Claims Act. Plaintiff Ricky Ellingburg, a veteran, alleged that physicians at a Department of Veterans Affairs facility in Memphis, Tennessee, negligently failed to diagnose his spinal cord compression over multiple visits in 2023. The delayed diagnosis resulted in permanent paralysis. The United States, represented by the Department of Justice, denied a breach of the standard of care. The court examined expert testimony regarding radiologic interpretations and symptom progression to determine whether the VA physicians’ inaction constituted a deviation from acceptable medical practice, causing the catastrophic neurological injury.

The court entered judgment in favor of plaintiff Ricky Ellingburg, awarding $18.5 million in damages for medical expenses, lost earning capacity, and pain and suffering. Judge Roumel concluded that the VA's failure to escalate diagnostic procedures constituted gross negligence.

The central dispute was whether the VA physicians breached the standard of care by failing to order timely advanced imaging studies based on progressive neurological symptoms, and whether the two-year delay in diagnosis directly caused the plaintiff's permanent paralysis.

The ruling underscored systemic accountability issues within VA healthcare, reigniting public scrutiny of veterans' access to timely specialty care. It reinforced the application of FTCA liability for diagnostic failures in federal hospitals, prompting internal VA policy reviews on neurological referral protocols and Congressional discourse on medical malpractice caps in government tort cases.